Battle of Moscow

The Battle of Moscow occurred between October 1941 and January 1942 when the Soviet Union's Red Army launched a massive counterattack against Nazi Germany's forces as they came close to assaulting the Russian capital of Moscow. The Red Army, commanded by Georgy Zhukov, outflanked the German troops, who were suffering from the merciless Russian winter in addition to supply issues. By January 1942, the German assault on Moscow had petered out, and the Soviets won their first major victory against Germany.

Background
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on several fronts, with German troops surprising the Red Army and advancing deep into Russia in the following months. Using blitzkrieg tactics, the Germans destroyed the Soviet Air Force on the ground and trapped large Soviet formations in "cauldrons", subduing these pockets and taking hundreds of thousands of prisoners. By October, it seemed realistic (on paper) that Germany would be able to take Moscow by year's end, but the Germans were ill-equipped for fighting in winter, and the German offensive ground to a halt before Moscow. 56 reinforced Soviet divisions - bolstered by reinforcements from Siberia and the Russian Far East - defended Moscow, and Georgy Zhukov planned a counteroffensive against the freezing German troops.

On 5 December 1941, Zhukov launched his counterattack, and massed artillery led the counterblow. Adolf Hitler ordered for the German Fourth Army to hold its ground, and it was exposed to Soviet attacks; Heinz Guderian's battered panzer group was pushed back from Tula and across the Oka River. Erich von Manstein's Fourth Panzer Group was also in danger of being outflanked, and the Soviets pushed forwards. Klin was liberated on 15 December, the German encirclement of Tula was lifted, and the German front had been pushed west by 200 miles. The Germans adopted "hedgehog" tactics, in which they would retreat from one fortified defensive position to another, slowing their retreat and allowing for them to assemble reserves as reinforcements. The Germans inflicted heavy losses on the Soviets and denied the Russians road and rail junctions that were necessary for the advance. However, the Germans depended on the Luftwaffe for supplies, so their supply lines were overstretched. On 17 December, Hitler fired army commander-in-chief Walther von Brauchitsch for allowing unauthorized withdrawals to occur, and Hitler himself took command. However, he was unable to halt the Soviet advance, and the United States sent supplies to the USSR after entering the war on 8 December 1941. By 7 January 1942, the Germans had been sent reeling back from Moscow, and the Soviets prepared for a series of counterattacks.